Appreciating Teachers

Hey, it's Don from RV Business Coach again, continuing our daily videos about "What's the new normal going to be like? How are things going to be once we get over our quarantines and lockdowns and start doing business again?"

I really don't think they're ever going to go back to the way they used to be. I think we'll develop a "new normal." And the good news in that is that if we think about it and we're conscious about it, we have ways we can shape that into being an even better normal than what we had before.

So today one of the areas I want to talk about that I think will change as a result of all of this is education, and in particular our teachers.

Now there's really two ways that I see that this comes into effect. One is the impact of remote learning on education. And the other one, the one I really want to talk about today is what it has taught us about our teachers.

And this is Teacher Appreciation Week as I record this, so it's a perfect time to talk about that.

Let's talk about teachers. I've really grown to appreciate teachers through the quarantine period, and most of the other parents I've talked to are the same way.

Teachers do a whole lot more than we realized, until we were at home trying to work and our kids are home trying to do distance learning and we realized, "Wow! These teachers really do a lot of amazing things for our kids!"

I can think of really 3 main topics I want to talk about today. There's probably dozens of things that really show how important our teachers are but 3 things our teachers do that I think are worth of getting a shout out today.

One of those things of course is teaching! Imparting information from the teacher to the student. And the thing we often forget about is that different students have different learning styles And therefore just standing up in front of a white board with markers and droning on and on isn't going to reach all of your students. And the really good teachers recognize that, and they change up their delivery, and they change their wording and they change the activities to accommodate it. And when you think about the wide variety of students they have, that's really phenomenal that they can reach so many students-probably 30+ students in a class with probably 30 different learning styles. And they are able to adapt and teach the kids. So that's really important.

The second thing I've learned teachers are really, really good at is motivating and encouraging students. We've noticed with our son that after about 10 minutes, he's had enough. Ready to move on! And somehow teachers keep him in engaged in school for a full 40 to 50 minute class period. Which is pretty phenomenal. And the other thing we've noticed that's kind of funny: our teacher has online office hours, and our son loves to login to the office hours and do his work during the office hours, getting that interaction with the teacher, much much much more than he does working by himself, which makes a lot of sense, but also a whole lot more than he likes working with us! There's something about the teacher's demeanor, or her delivery that excites him and motivates him and brings out his best work. And that's really awesome. I really appreciate her for that.

And the third thing I've noticed that teachers are really good at, that we kind of take for granted is... for lack of better word, I'm going to call it "crowd control" You think about a classroom of 30+ 5th graders. And these kids have a lot of energy, and to be able to get them calmed down, and sitting in desks, and participating is pretty phenomenal normally. But I've been impressed with how our teacher's been able to do it virtually. They have a morning meeting, and it's so fun to watch because the students all login in the morning, and they are all so excited, and they all want to talk to the other students and tell them what they've done. And they all want the teacher's attention. And somehow, somehow, she corrals them all and gets them all organized and gets them all into honestly, some of the most functional video meetings that I've seen! Better than some of the professional meetings that I've seen! It's amazing how she can get these kids on the same page and cooperating, and speaking when it's their turn, and not speaking when it's not their turn. I don't know if that's art or skill, but whatever, she's got it! So a HUGE shout out for that!

So as I mentioned at the start of this video, this is teacher appreciation week.

So let's just talk for a moment about how can we appreciate our teachers? How can we show them appreciation?

And there's three things I'd like to mention today.

One is: tell them! Send them an email, send them a note, if you can afford it maybe send them a small gift Let them know you're thinking of them and you appreciate them. And especially now because remote learning isn't what most of them signed up to do, and they're having to adapt. I'm sure it's stressful for them just as it is for us as the parents and our kids as the students. So just let them know you're thinking of them and that you appreciate them.

The second thing we can do to appreciate our teachers is to talk about them. Which I guess I'm doing here, but also when we talk with other parents we can talk about the good things we've seen in our teachers And how we appreciate the teachers, and get those conversations going so that we all recognize what a great job so many of our teachers are doing.

And the third thing we can do, and this is probably the hardest of them all Is let's figure out how to properly fund public education and compensate our teachers for what they're worth. I've always known they're underpaid, but having my kid at home and trying to do distance learning has really driven home to me the value that teachers are bringing to our kids.

And I know it's going to be tough. Our states and our cities are having financial burdens right now. They've lost lots of sources of income and had lots of expenses related to states of emergencies, and a lot them are talking about having to cut essential services like police, and fire, and teachers. And somehow we've got to figure out how to work through this and keep our education system going.

I think a country's greatest resource is its people and the minds of its people and we need to keep developing those. So somehow we need to work together and do that.

So that's it for today! Drop me a note in the comments and let me know what you think.

Do you appreciate your teachers? In how to appreciate teachers point #2, I said "talk about them." So let's do that. Down in the comments below, tell me what your teachers do that you appreciate. And let's spread some "teacher love" during teacher appreciation week.

Alright, take care! See you tomorrow! Bye!